Féileadh Mòr - Kilt Hose

Not too shabby

I made kilt hose from flannel "tartan"cloth. Unfortunately, wool tartan cloth is just too expensive for my Renaissance Faire garb. I'm sure some historical reenactors would say flannel is probably one of the worst fabrics I could pick, but it was the only thing available at a reasonable price. My great kilt requried at least eight yards of cloth. Someday, I'd love to make my garb from vegetable dye homespun wool - someday.

Since these hose are not knit, you need to cut on the bias so the fabric has some stretch. Don't bother trying to find a pattern. The easiest way to make them is to drape some scrap fabric around your leg and foot, pin it, and trim. You want to trim fairly close and with the seam along the back of your leg. Sew up the scrap, try them on, sew them a bit closer to take up any slack, and repeat. Stand with the pattern on to make sure you can flex your foot. If you trim too closely, you'll put too much stress on the heel. Resist the urge to cut out the bunched fabric on top of your ankle, I'll explain later.

When you've sewn them as close as you can, trim the excess fabric close to the seam. This will simplify tracing them onto papper to make a pattern. Give your pattern a half inch margin for the seam. This will give you some extra fabric to adjust the fit. It's much easier to cut excess fabric off than to add it back on.

My customized tartan kilt hose pattern

You'll notice the pattern is a single piece and does not have a seam in the front. The seam runs along the back. This keeps any mismatch with the tartan pattern along the back of the leg, under the foot, and over the toe. You want to place the pattern on your fabric with the long axis (this becomes the front of the hose) aligned along the bias of the fabric. With a tartan, especially one with a square pattern, this is easily accomplished by lining up corners in the pattern. 

If you are careful, you can pin the fabric along the back seam to match the tartan pattern. To get it right, the edges of the fabric might not be perfectly aligned, but the pattern has enough play in it to take this into account.

The bias cut fabric will be a lot stretchier than what you may be used to sewing. My scrap for the pattern was muslin and not cut on the bias. I found that I needed to sew the seam closer than the pattern to take up the slack. When you're done, just cut around your seam leaving about 1/4 inch of fabric. I used a straight stitch and went over it again to strengthen it a bit. Unless you had to cut a huge edge of fabric off, don't bother adjusting your pattern. You never know how stretchy the fabric for your next pair will be. Again, it easier to cut off excess fabric than to sew it back on.

Tartan kilt hose

I used some short pieces of jute to make simple garters to hold them up. Genetics and karate have given me fairly decent calves, so the twine did not need to be tight and they stayed up all day. Fabric will bunch over the top of the ankle, but it's not much and didn't bother me. Trimming to eliminate it would disrupt the tartan pattern.

Féileadh Mòr - Shoes

Ballyhagan, Drumacoon, Pampootie, Cuaran, and Rivelins are early bag shoes that were worn by Scottish Highlanders. Made from a single piece of rawhide leather, they were simple to make and easily replaced. All you need is a source of leather, a knife to cut out the shape needed and to cut holes and strips of leather for lace.

I started with a Ballyhagan/Pampootie style pattern made from an image found at http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOES/SHOE57.HTM. It is gathered at the toe (and along the sides in the Ballyhagen shoe) with an open vamp. Holes were punched into the edges to let water work it's way out so the foot can dry out. Since the pattern wasn't very clear, I made a couple of scrap fabric versions, making adjustments as I went. 

I picked up a leather coat from the Salvation Army for $15 for the leather and some foam arch support shoe inserts to substitute for the grass or felt that would have been shoved into the shoe to give the user some support. I'm not entirely happy with the way they came out. The inserts shift around a bit and I'm not sure they'll work well. I tried lacing across the vamp to tighten it up, but the leather wasn't strong enough to support laces and tore through the holes. I might make a closed vamp shoe more like the Drumacoon. 

Shoe leather punched and ready to go

Ballyhagan

I also have a pattern for a later period latch style short boot (Butterick pattern B5233). I tried making a scrap version, but the largest size is too small for me. It fit my wife, so it's probably a women's size eight or nine.

After adjusting the pattern to fit and making a few minor modifications, I managed to get the boots done for the last weekend of the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Instead of the dodgy loop stay from the pattern, I added a grommet to the flap and tied it with some leather strap sewn into the back. They held up rather well. I thought they would fall apart halfway through the day, but they didn't. The boots looked pretty good, but slipped too much and didn't provide enough support.

I'll sew a layer of material to the bottom to add a thicker sole and use them for my sister's Halloween party, but I'll buy proper short boots before next year's festival. Finished leather if I can find some reasonably priced. If not, suede and try to keep them clean.

After a long day at the faire

Michigan Renaissance Festival - Shamrocks & Shenanigans

Playtron Outfits
Stacey and I went back to the Michigan Renaissance Festival yesterday. I've always wanted to go as a playtron. A playtron is a patron who dresses in costume, or garb, and plays a character even though they aren't a cast member of the faire. So, for the last month, Stacey and I have been researching period costume to make our own.

Kilt-ed!

Looking awesome!

I'm part Scottish, and have wanted a kilt for decades. I have a traditional small kilt on order from Got-Kilt made with MacQueen/MacQuien tartan. But it won't arrive until the end of September. For RenFest, I decided to make a great kilt, also known as the Breacan an Fhéilidh (belted plaid) or Féileadh Mòr (great plaid). The great kilt just barely makes it into the late English Renaissance represented by the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. You see a lot of small kilts or fèileadh beag at festivals, but it wasn't created until the late 17th century, well outside the Elizabethan period.

Piper complete with
Féileadh Mòr, Brogan Tionndaidh,
and Cadadh 

English wool is very expensive, and you need eight to nine yards to make a great kilt. For this kilt I picked up some flannel from Joann Fabrics with a Gordon tartan pattern. Family tartan patterns are a recent development, they weren't formalized until the 19th century It's ok to use anything you want for a renaissance period kilt. Something with natural dye colors is best (browns, black, dark blue, etc.) bright synthetic dyes weren't available.

I made the shirt from unbleached muslin using a Simplicity pattern. I can sew a little, but haven't done much, so it took quite a while.

I still need to make shoes and hose. Brogan tionndaidh are shoes made from a piece of raw hide, drawn up over the foot, trimmed, punched with holes, and laced in place with raw hide thongs. They are the precursor to modern ghillie brogues. Rawhide boots up to the knee would be another option. Cadadh are sewn up kilt hose made out of the same material as the kilt. Since they aren't stretchy like knit socks, they need garters or raw hide thongs to hold them up.  Yesterday, I got by with black shoes and short black socks.

Stacey wanted to make something to go along with my kilt. There isn't a lot of information available about Scottish Highland women's clothing. Both men and women wore a leine - a long shirt. Women wore them full length, and men wore them to mid-thigh, the knee, or longer. Over the leine, went a corset, overdress, and an arisaid, - a simpler plaid, unbelted like a shawl, or belted like the men in a later period. 

Stacey started the day wearing her plaid over her shoulders but as it grew warmer, she tied it over one shoulder. 

Men in Kilts Competition!
On our way into the faire several women on the queen's court suggested I enter the men in kilts competition. They took the time to show me how to present myself to the queen.

Queen Elizabeth prepares to examine the contestants

It was quite a lot of fun. Queen Elizabeth encouraged us to demonstrate the proper kilt swish as we paraded about the stage. She had a kilt examination tool - a dental mirror with a telescoping handle. While examining each contestent she would make appreciative comments. Several contestants wore their kilts in the traditional "military" style and gave the ladies in the audience more entertainment than they bargained for. This was my first day in a kilt, so I chickened out and wore compression shorts. A couple of younger guys in USA flag kilts and a guy who looked like Wolverine in a kilt took the lead. One of the flag kilt guys wowed the ladies by yanking off his jockey shorts and twirling them in the air. He ended up winning.

The Ded Bob Sho

We always try to see the Ded Bob Sho. We stuck around after the performance to get a photograph.

Me, Ded Bob, Smug, and Stacey

Tired but happy rennies

Michigan Renaissance Festival - Got Kilt?

I'd forgotten how much fun the Michigan Renaissance Festival can be.

Stacey and I haven't been in quite a few years (13 or 17 - she was pregnant with either Sean or Lydia at the time). Lydia and Sean have never been. Stacey asked Lydia if she'd like to take a couple of her friends for her birthday. Usually, she has her friends go camping with us but that didn't work out this year.

Warrants of Arrest
for
"Sweet Entertainment"
 "Beatlejuice x 3"
and
"Revenge"

I received two Warrants of Arrest thanks to my lovely daughter and her friends. The first for Notorious DAD and again for Bein' Eveeeil.

The girls took off to spend some quality time with each other. Our paths crossed several times - at one point Lydia acquired Elf ears and Emily sprouted horns.

We didn't see as much of the stage acts as we'd have liked but did get to see some of the Scottish Dancers and US Canadian Highland Heavy Games. We saw the Braemar Stone Put (like the shot put but with stones), Caber Toss (flipping a tree length pole end-over-end for distance and accuracy), and 56lb. Weight for Height (iron weight on a short chain tossed one handed, over head, and over a horizontal beam).

Sir I-Can't-Remember-His-Name with Sean and Stacey

We saw the Roundtable Productions Joust, which Sean enjoyed. Sean also liked the glass blowing where he bought a glass paperweight. He also wanted to see the blacksmith demonstration, but they wouldn't be demonstrating until late that day so he missed it.

The Black Watch
3rd Battalion
Royal Regiment of Scotland 

I've always wanted to get a kilt, and almost bought one from Got Kilt. Not wanting to offend, I was looking at a Black Watch tartan, a tartan that anyone can wear, but there wasn't one readily at hand in my size.

Stacey and I are planning to go back Labor Day weekend without the kids, so I decided to wait until then. This turned out to be for the best. I remembered last night my maternal grandmother's maiden name is MacQueen (or MacQuien if you look at census data). The only down-side is that it requires a special order and will take longer. But, I should get it in plenty of time for my sister's annual Halloween party. Stacey is now looking at suitable attire to complement a kilted Scotsman.

I think the RenFest will become an annual event for us from now on.

Ukulele - Intro to Stairway To Heaven - Not Terribly Shabby Strumming Version

I took the finger-picked version of the intro to Stairway To Heaven I've been working on and added a strumming pattern. I have no idea if it's even close to being correct, but it sounds okay to me. But then, what do I know?

The strumming patter I used is Down-Down-Up-Down. The only really problem (other than the obvious lack of skill) is my slow transition to the G chord.

I recorded a video while practicing at my desk during lunch. If you watch it at the end you'll see one of the perils of practicing at work.

Ukulele - Intro to Stairway To Heaven, Karate, Philosophy, and BASIC Programming

There are a plenty of problems with how I play. An immediately obvious one to me is that I play like I'm programming in BASIC. 

I'm sure this is the same with learning just about everything. When we learn a kata in karate, we break complex movements up into distinct motions based on earlier kata or basic punches, blocks, etc. and string them together. A rendition of the kata starts as a robotic activity without fluidity or finesse, with the result being less than the sum of the parts. But you have to start somewhere.

As you get better acquainted with a kata, your instructor will begin replacing the robotic logic with "this is how that part is really done." This can be very frustrating until you realize you're never actually ever going to learn the correct and final "this is how that part is really done." That kata doesn't exist.

It's like concept of chair-ness. Everyone knows what a chair is. But I argue it's impossible to give a simple and complete universally accepted definition of a chair. You can give examples and describe the purpose of a chair. But can you enumerate all prior and future versions of a chair? How about a absolute and universal letter "a"? There are limits to knowledge, or perhaps to the expression of knowledge. Something about Kant and the sensory manifold. Sorry, I digress. Philosophy 101 was a long time ago.

Here's some song playing algorithm pseudo-code:

• For i = 1 to Song.Chords.Count
• Look at Song.Chords[i].ChordToPlay
• Set fingers on Song.Chords[i].ChordToPlay
• For j = 1 to Song.Chords[i].StringToPluck 
• Pluck Song.Chords[i].StringToPluck[j]
• Next j
• Next i
• ??????
• Profit!

The tutorial I'm watching doesn't explain anything verbally. Even if it did, it would be in Spanish. I wouldn't have a clue. I started out playing using the algorithm above, which kinda works. I slowed down the video playback enough so I can see the individual finger movements better and it's obvious most chord transitions are made while plucking strings. 

The string plucking finger pattern for this song is: pluck the first and forth strings, the third string, the second, and finally the first. Some chords drop off the second, third, or forth pluck. When playing the G chord, you can pluck the first and forth strings as soon as the fingers are fretting the first and forth strings and before the second string is fretted. I won't bore you with more pseudo-code.

Yes, I'm sure this falls into the category of having an amazing grasp of the obvious. But I'm going to guess that if it wasn't obvious to me there's a chance it isn't to other n00bs. 

No video today. I'm working on it, but I'm not prepared to embarrass myself yet again. I'll save that for another post.

What the hey. Recorded this at lunch. Better than the last one but not my much. Meh.

If you want to see how it should be done, check out Stairway To Heaven Tutorial (Led Zeppelin) Ukulele Chords on Ukeclases YouTube channel. Great resource for tutorial videos.

Ganbatte Kudasai!

Ukulele: Stairway To Heaven Intro - The Really Crappy Version

Well, here it is. I decided to try recording a video while I'm practicing at lunch. Here's my "best" take out of three for the intro to Stairway To Heaven.

My fretting is sloppy and slow, and my plucking is wrong. I'm using my middle finger on string three when I could be using my thumb. That's going to slow me down if I ever hope to get better. I tried fixing it, but royally messed up the rest of the recordings. The first one will have to do.

If you want to see how it should be done, check out Stairway To Heaven Tutorial (Led Zeppelin) Ukulele Chords on Ukeclases YouTube channel. Great resource for tutorial videos.

Sorry about the background noise.